This burger/milk shake bar found self-order kiosks helpful streamlining both walk-in traffic and pickup orders.

Kiosks streamline both walk-in and pickup orders at Margate Dairy Bar & Burger.

March 23, 2022 | by Elliot Maras — Editor, Kiosk Marketplace & Vending Times

Amid lockdowns and restrictions early in the pandemic, Margate Dairy Bar & Burger in New Jersey took a triple blow in the months to come: limitations by the impact of COVID-19, rising costs of goods sold and ballooning labor expenses.

Chris Clayton, owner, found himself having to make difficult decisions to sustain the 60-year-old business and ensure its future.

Fortunately, Clayton wasn't a stranger to challenges in the restaurant business, having bought the store in 2003.

In 2012, Hurricane Sandy destroyed the building, which was not rebuilt until 2015.

By then, customer buying habits were changing, and Clayton wasted no time introducing online ordering and delivery (using electric bicycles). Nearly a third (30%) of orders came online, causing him to convert much of his dining area into a food preparation area.

When delivery is open beginning at 7 p.m. to closing during the summer, it accounts for about 15% of the orders, the rest being pickup.

When COVID hit in 2020, he created an outdoor area with a tent for pickup.

"I had people waiting in line to order and people waiting in line to pick up in the same line," he said.

To alleviate these lines, he introduced self-order kiosks. But not without some hesitation.

Clayton prided himself on his customer service. His average employee retention is four years, which he considers good. But as the business grew, he needed more people, and the number he needed simply wasn't available.

"That's one of the things that scared me. Going to kiosks, you (presumably) lose that touch. But the problem I was having was with labor – getting them to show up. Being able to fill shifts. We just couldn't get to them (the customers) quick enough."

He chose to partner with Pye for his kiosks since his POS software provider, Restaurant Manager, suggested it.

In addition to reducing the need for labor, the kiosks helped reduce congestion where people were waiting to pick up orders.

"'I said, 'Wow, it's kind of the future and the answer to the labor issue,'" he said. "In the restaurant field, you have to be nimble and adapt quickly.

"These kiosks have been a game-changer for us," he said. "They have helped us become more efficient, and, without them, we would be struggling like most everyone else to have an adequate number of workers here at any given time." There are normally between 24 and 27 employees in the restaurant at night.

"We moved the kiosks where we replaced some of the register volume," he said. "We moved the kiosks over to a counter… to move the people that are ordering the first time away from the pickup window." He has two kiosks and three cash registers.

Doing so allowed Clayton to reposition staff during busy hours to focus more on food preparation and deployment and less on taking orders and payments that could easily be done through a machine.

It takes time, however, for the staff to get used to the technology to the point that it works smoothly.

"It's also about how the customer feels," Clayton said. "If the printer doesn't work and it keeps 'burping' on your order and resetting, you can lose a customer because… the technology pisses them off."

"They work really well when they're perfected," he said. "The first couple of printers we got kept jamming because the first guy tore the receipt and the next receipt was jammed in the printer."

Integrating the kiosk with the POS system also took some work.

The kiosks have improved since he first got them, but more improvement is needed. There have been some issues integrating with the credit card reader and the kitchen display system.

"It needs to be simple, simple, simple," he said. "That kiosk needs to be able to upsell like a person does. It needs to lead the customer." He thinks the kiosk can potentially do a better job upselling than the cashier since it can offer pictures.

For the time being, the kiosks offer the burgers and milk shake selections, but not ice cream, which is served outside.

Clayton has invested $12,000 to $15,000 in the kiosks alone, but between $25,000 and $30,000 in the technology, which includes printers and the electric signage to direct people to the different areas of the store, including the kiosks It also includes $1,000 stanchions to create lines for people to wait in as well as some additional labor.

"It's all about efficiency," he said.

For an update on how the coronavirus pandemic has affected kiosks, click here.

Photos courtesy of Margate Bar & Burger.

Elliot Maras is the editor of Kiosk Marketplace and Vending Times. He brings three decades covering unattended retail and commercial foodservice.

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